Rinse all canned beans before using them. This reduces the amount of gas-producing sugars. (It also cuts down on sodium.)
But most people can enjoy more beans with less gas with the help of these tips: Soak beans overnight in water, then drain, rinse and cook in fresh water. This decreases the oligosaccharide content. Cooking the beans in a pressure cooker may reduce the oligosaccharides even further.
Many people wonder if they need to drain and rinse canned beans, and the answer is, “it depends.” It's fine to add the bean liquid to many recipes, but if you want to reduce the amount of sodium, it's best to drain and rinse canned beans.
Soak Your Beans
By soaking beans overnight, you will remove a good amount of the gas-producing carbohydrates and lectins. Soak for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight for up to 12 hours. Chickpeas can go as long as 24 hours as they take the longest to soften.
However, some of the minerals beyond sodium and certain vitamins (such as folate and other B vitamins) that are soluble in water also leach into the liquid part of canned beans. So, portions of these nutrients are lost by draining and rinsing (example, right).
The outlet concurs that the simple act of rinsing your canned beans before using them will cut down on that excess salt. The starch in the canned bean solution has its own implications in your cooking. It can alter the texture, composition, and liquid ratios of the recipe you are creating.
If you're a relatively healthy person though, enjoying canned beans without draining or rinsing them first is fine.
It's said that cooking them in something acidic will help reduce the gas (vinegar or tomatoes will work). This helps the sugars break down. Process them. You can blend them or mash the canned beans to help prevent gas.
Lentils, split peas and black-eyed peas, for example, are lower in gas-producing carbohydrates than other pulses. Chickpeas and navy beans are on the high end.
Try sticking with the easiest bean varieties to digest such as: black-eyed peas, adzuki, anasazi, lentils and mung beans (general rule of thumb is the sweeter the bean, the easier to digest though sweetness is a relative thing!). The most difficult beans to digest are lima beans, navy beans and soybeans.
To cut down on the gassy properties, you can add a little baking soda to your recipe. The baking soda helps break down some of the beans' natural gas-making sugars.
So the starchy liquid that lives in the can? That's your bean broth. Use that broth to thicken soups, help dips hang together—all the ways you'd use the broth with beans you cooked yourself. So stop throwing it away!
Draining and rinsing canned beans can reduce their sodium content by more than 40%. But taking just a few extra minutes is key to getting the most benefit. First, drain beans in a colander for two minutes. Then rinse the beans under cool running water for 10 seconds.
According to several articles, soybeans are the fartiest and also contain the highest percentage of sugars. Navy beans and pinto beans are the next top offenders. And other worthy contestants include black beans, lima beans, black-eyed peas, and chickpeas.
"Research indicates this type of sugar found in legumes is healthy for your gut," Grosse said. One popular theory as to why beans cause gas is the soapy liquid you find in canned beans. "When legumes, for example red lentils, are boiled in water, the liquid they are cooking in becomes higher in oligosaccharides.
Because of their fibre content, cannellini beans can cause gas. Eating too many beans can cause gastrointestinal upset to some extent.
7 ways to Decrease Intestinal Gas From Beans
Eat lots of vegetables, particularly green ones with your beans (75% of the meal should be vegetables). As beans are slow to digest: Eat fruit or sugar foods 2 - 3 hours away from a meal with beans.
Bottom Line. If beans make you uncomfortably gassy, sprinkle a little baking soda into their soaking water. It will reduce the volume of gas produced by the legumes, plus, they will cook quicker. If you're even shorter on time, you may want to try some of our favorite recipes to make with a can of black beans.
Ginger: The fact that ginger is great for digestion, makes it a perfect addition to a meal with beans. Apart from that, ginger also helps in quicker digestion moving along the beans in your stomach, reducing the amount of gas produced.
The apple cider vinegar breaks down indigestible sugars to help digestion and also brightens the flavor of the beans without the need for excess salt.
The addition of baking soda to the cooking water does two things: It adds sodium ions that weaken the pectin as explained above, and more importantly, an alkaline environment causes the pectin molecules to break down into smaller molecules that greatly weakens the pectin causing the beans to soften much more rapidly.
Depending on the type of bean you are using, the coloration of the bean liquid may cause a coloration change you don't want for your dish. The bean liquid may contain a small amount extra sodium that you may not want in your recipe as well.
If you are using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse them with water to cut the sodium (salt) content by almost a half. Rinse well in cold water to make them easier to digest and less gas-producing.
Although you can technically eat beans straight out of the can, even low-sodium varieties can be quite salty, so it's a good idea to drain and rinse them before eating them or cooking with them (unless a recipe specifically says otherwise).